Tic-tac-toe-playing chickens missing

Published Thursday, May 24, 2001

BENSALEM, Pa. -- It could be a case of foul play for three chickens that travel the country's state-fair circuit playing tic-tac-toe against humans at 25 cents a game.

Tic, Tac and Toe -- ''educated poultry'' whose owners say have never been beaten by a human -- have been missing for a week and a half after they were apparently removed from their cages at the Pennsylvania Fair in suburban Philadelphia.

''We haven't seen so much as a feather of them,'' says owner and trainer Steve Boger, who also trains racing pigs and helps run the family's traveling 150-animal petting zoo.

The chickens draw long lines of visitors who want to face off with a chicken over tic-tac-toe. The chicken always starts the game. Boger won't reveal the secret to training tic-tac-toe birds, though he says it takes several months and includes a special diet.